The Vermont Farm Show grew out of the Old Vermont Dairymen’s Association and Maple Sugar Makers’ Association meeting which had been held for numerous years. In 1930 these meetings were held at the Memorial Auditorium which was only a few years old at the time. In 1932 Orlando Martin asked the Director of the Department of Agriculture if there was any possible way to put an educational exhibit and product competition in the basement of the Auditorium. That first exhibit was a huge success and so began the Vermont Farm Show.

During its first 80 years, the Show has undergone many changes which reflect the diversity of Vermont agriculture. The addition of exhibitors in the outdoor ice rink in 1984 was only one of many physical challenges as the Show grew larger and more diverse. Another significant change occurred in 2012 when we moved the location from Barre to the Champlain Valley Exposition grounds in Essex Junction.

Join us at the Sugarhouse on March 8th from 8am-11am for pancake breakfast! Come enjoy yummy pancakes, coffee and juice, solar sweet maple products and the company of your fellow neighbors. Enter to win a beautiful Solar Sweet Maple Farm gift basket filled with goodies!

The Middletown Springs Historical Society will be holding its 26th Annual Maple Festival on the Green and indoors on Sunday, March 16 from 1-4 pm.

The event will feature Fred Bradley’s demonstration of early maple sugarmaking in a cast iron kettle over an open fire.

Bill Clark, past President of the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers’ Association, one of the oldest Vermont maple organizations, dating back to 1893, will give a talk on the evolution of sugaring technique using examples from the Historical Society collection.

Delicious maple desserts created by Society members, maple products and crafts, and new 2014 syrup will be available for sale. Old-fashioned sugar on snow and maple cotton candy are always favorites.

Videos about Vermont maple sugaring will be shown continuously. A silent auction will feature Maple Sap Buckets decorated by local school students, as well as handwork from local artists and craftspersons, merchant donations and services. Student artists from local schools and Green Mountain College have decorated antique buckets with images reflecting the maple sugar season.

A raffle with over 50 prizes including $75.00 and $50.00 in cash, maple gift baskets, maple syrup and maple products, craft items, and gift certificates from local businesses will go on continuously during the festival. Acoustic music and kids’ activities enliven the free afternoon event.

For more information about the Maple Festival call Robert Gould at 235-1811 or David Wright at 235-2376.

Join us at Palmer Lane Maple for the sweetest event around. It is spring in VT, and that means it’s sugarin’ time! We’ll have lots of traditional items, and some very unique ones too! Bring non-perishable food items for the Underhill/Jericho food shelf and receive a FREE small cotton candy!

Live music for the kids with Rockin’ Ron the Friendly Pirate (Sat. 10:30-12:30)

Face Painting

FREE coloring pages

Hands-on tapping station

Get a FREE maple tree cookie, while supplies last!

We’ll have lots of FREE samples, including the “new” grades of syrup to sample. If you LOVE that maple flavor, you gotta try some Very Dark, Strong maple syrup!

Food items we’ll have for purchase include:

Sugar-on-snow, with pickles of course

Two kinds of donuts

Hot dogs cooked in maple syrup

Cotton Candy

Real Maple Creemees (soft-serve)

Chocolate covered maple candy

Maple lemonade

Cheesecake with maple crème caramel sauce

We’ll be making maple cashews on-site!

And much, much more!

Come see all the amazing things you can do with maple! We have Bourbon flavored maple syrup, maple lip balm, and even maple soap!

for more info

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This website is the result of tax-supported funding from USDA Rural Development and as such is not copyrightable. It may be shared with the customary crediting of the source. Funding for this project was made possible in part with a Rural Business Enterprise Grant from USDA Rural Development and a grant awarded by the Wood Education and Resource Center, Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry, USDA Forest Service.